Lee Enterprises, Incorporated (LEE)
Local newspaper publisher, one pattern. Read November 9, 2026 from the annual report for the period ending September 28, 2025, filed November 26, 2025. Ranked 2 of the 51 Communication Services companies read so far, by the share within reach now.
Within reach now
53%
projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index
End of 2028
66%
Employees, annual report
2,500
Leading staffing pattern
Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers
Share of the working time within reach, long-run pace, four times in five
Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- Now53%
- End of 202764%
- End of 202866%
- End of 203066%
What changes for its people by the end of 2028, by its industries' figures
- Stays with people 35%
- Becomes checking a model's work 49%
- Handed over with lighter checks 15%
The filing states approximately 2,500 employees at September 28, 2025, about 270 part-time, and describes one local news and digital marketing business, so the whole workforce is read at newspaper publishers by description.
The figures on this page come from the company's own annual report and from BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. They are estimates with a stated method. Nothing here says what the company will do: within reach is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings.
What follows from the reading
Share of working time within reach of AI, on the long-run pace at four in five: 53% now, 64% at the end of 2027, 66% at the end of 2028, 66% at the end of 2030. By the patterns, the work is about 66% desk work, 23% people work and 11% body work. These are the site's industry estimates weighted by the shares below: estimates with a stated method and range, not a forecast of what the company will do. By the same patterns, at the end of 2028 about 35% of the working time stays with people (conversation, in-person and hands-on work), 49% becomes checking a model's work and 15% could be handed over with lighter checks, from the industries' own figures, not the company's roles.
Headcount
2,500 employees as of September 28, 2025 (stated). The filing describes local newspapers and digital services for U.S. communities and nothing abroad; recorded as 1 without a stated figure, flagged.
The filing: “As of September 28, 2025, we had approximately 2,500 employees, including approximately 270 part time employees, exclusive of TNI and MNI employees.”
The workforce as industry patterns
| Pattern | Share | Reason, from the filing |
|---|---|---|
| Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers | 100% | The filing describes a local news and digital marketing services company with subscription and advertising revenue, with no count by function, so the whole workforce is read at newspaper and periodical publishers by description (c). |
What the filing says about the workforce: Approximately 2,500 employees at September 28, 2025 including about 270 part-time, exclusive of the TNI and MNI partnership employees; about 2,400 full-time, of whom about 250 are represented by unions; down from 3,047 a year earlier.
Companies read with the same leading pattern
Other companies whose largest staffing pattern is also Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers, largest first, each read from its own annual report. Within reach now and at the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five. Now is projected from METR's April 2026 measurement and Epoch's November 2026 index.
- News Corporation (NWS, 21,700 employees)53% now, 67% by 2028
- USA TODAY Co. Inc. (TDAY, 9,540 employees)52% now, 66% by 2028
- The New York Times Company (NYT, 6,000 employees)53% now, 66% by 2028
- John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (WLYB, 4,500 employees)53% now, 66% by 2028
- McGraw Hill, Inc. (MH, 4,400 employees)53% now, 66% by 2028
What the filing says about AI
14 sentences in the filing name AI. The filing describes AI-powered solutions among its digital marketing products, its Amplified suite of AI-powered solutions, and says generative AI is shifting the competitive landscape and may affect its ability to attract and retain audience and subscribers.
- “Through a premium, high-margin portfolio of digital products and marketing services - including owned-and-operated platforms, branded content, over-the-top advertising, AI-powered solutions, and targeted print - we enable more than 20,000 local advertisers to meaningfully engage customers, strengthen their brands, and accelerate growth.”
- “Our suite of AI-powered solutions, Amplified, competes with other digital marketing solutions agencies as well as other media companies which have a similar strategy for digital marketing solutions.”
- “Generative AI technology's continued growth, development, and evolution is shifting the landscape among our competitors to adopt AI technology as a tool to create and deliver content to customers as well as act as a stand-alone competitor and such evolutions of AI technology may negatively impact our ability to attract, engage, and retain audience and subscribers, maintain and grow other revenu...”
- “Recent advances and continued rapid development in generative AI technology may significantly alter the market for our products and services and shift our competitor's focus to adopting AI more quickly.”
- “The use of AI both as a tool for our competitors and stand-alone competition, may also affect our ability to monetize our digital audiences.”
Its annual reports, year by year
Sentences naming AI in each annual report, counted by one rule, beside the median report in the Index that year. Each count links its filing. Every company, by year and sector
- Fiscal 20210median 0
- Fiscal 20220median 0
- Fiscal 20231median 1
- Fiscal 202412median 4
- Fiscal 202514median 10
Headcount by filing year
As reported in each year's annual report, with the filing. A year marked not read had no figure the reading could take from the report's text.
| Period | Employees | Filed | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025-09-28 | 2,500 | 2025-11-26 | 10-K |
| 2024-09-29 | 3,047 | 2024-12-13 | 10-K |
| 2023-09-24 | 3,342 | 2023-12-08 | 10-K |
| 2022-09-25 | 4,365 | 2023-02-27 | 10-K |
| 2021-09-26 | 5,130 | 2021-12-10 | 10-K |
| 2020-09-27 | 5,613 | 2020-12-11 | 10-K |
| 2019-09-29 | 2,954 | 2019-12-13 | 10-K |
| 2018-09-30 | 3,056 | 2018-12-14 | 10-K |
| 2017-09-24 | 3,555 | 2017-12-08 | 10-K |
| 2016-09-25 | 3,976 | 2016-12-09 | 10-K |
| 2015-09-27 | 4,500 | 2015-12-11 | 10-K |
| 2014-09-28 | 4,700 | 2014-12-12 | 10-K |
| 2013-09-29 | 5,000 | 2013-12-13 | 10-K |
| 2012-09-30 | 6,100 | 2012-12-14 | 10-K |
| 2011-09-25 | 6,200 | 2011-12-09 | 10-K |
| 2010-09-26 | 6,815 | 2010-12-10 | 10-K |
| 2009-09-27 | 7,200 | 2009-12-11 | 10-K |
| 2008-09-28 | 8,200 | 2008-12-31 | 10-K |
| 2007-09-30 | 9,250 | 2007-11-29 | 10-K |
| 2006-09-30 | 9,400 | 2006-12-14 | 10-K |
| 2005-09-30 | 10,000 | 2005-12-14 | 10-K |
| 2004-09-30 | 6,700 | 2004-12-14 | 10-K |
| 2003-12-23 | 6,700 | 2003-12-24 | 10-K |
| 2002-09-30 | 6,700 | 2002-12-27 | 10-K |
| 2001-09-30 | 4,900 | 2001-12-27 | 10-K |
| 2000-09-30 | 5,900 | 2000-12-27 | 10-K |
| 1999-09-30 | 6,100 | 1999-12-29 | 10-K |
| 1998-09-30 | 6,100 | 1998-12-29 | 10-K |
| 1997-09-30 | 6,100 | 1997-12-29 | 10-K |
| 1996-09-30 | 5,300 | 1996-12-27 | 10-K |
| 1995-09-30 | 5,600 | 1995-12-27 | 10-K |
| 1994-09-30 | 4,700 | 1994-12-27 | 10-K |
Limits of this reading
- Employees of the TNI and MNI partnerships are excluded from the stated count.
- The U.S. share is recorded as 1 because the filing describes only U.S. operations, without stating it.
- No count by function; one pattern by description (c).
Source: the company's annual report on EDGAR, accession 0000058361-25-000040, the filing. Read by Claude Fable 5.1 under rubric version 1, by the method. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
The report on Lee Enterprises, Incorporated, $29
This page as a document to keep, with what it does not show: the share within reach at every date on three paces and two reliabilities, a typical workforce of this shape at the stated headcount role by role and task by task (the industries' staffing, never the company's roster), where to start, what changes for the people and what they would learn, every sentence in the filing that names AI, the headcount by year, the companies read with the same leading pattern, the method and a citation line. To print or save as a PDF, open again in your browser for a year.
See the report, $29See the sample first: Walmart's report is free
Questions about this company
- How much of Lee Enterprises, Incorporated's working time is within reach of AI?
- An estimated 53% now and 66% by the end of 2028, on METR's long-run pace at four in five, from the workforce Lee Enterprises, Incorporated's own annual report describes and BLS staffing patterns for its industries, never from a roster. It is an estimate with a stated method. It is not a forecast of jobs lost or of savings, and it says nothing about what the company will do.
- How many people does Lee Enterprises, Incorporated employ?
- 2,500 as of September 28, 2025, as its annual report for the period ending September 28, 2025 states. About 100% in the U.S.
- What kinds of work make up Lee Enterprises, Incorporated's workforce?
- Read from its annual report as a blend of 1 industry staffing pattern, the largest Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers; by those patterns the work is about 66% desk work, 23% people work and 11% body work. Each share has a one-sentence reason on this page that can be checked against the filing.
- What does Lee Enterprises, Incorporated's annual report say about AI?
- 14 sentences in the filing name AI. Its annual reports for fiscal 2021 to 2025 name it in 0, 0, 1, 12 and 14 sentences, year by year. They are counted and quoted on this page, never judged: a count says how much a filing talks about AI, not what the company does with it.
- How is this estimated?
- Claude Fable 5.1 read the annual report under the Index's written rubric (version 1) on November 9, 2026: the stated headcount, the share in the U.S. when stated, and the workforce as a blend of industry staffing patterns. The estimates are the site's industry estimates weighted by those shares, from O*NET tasks with estimated lengths and METR's measurements of how long a task AI models can finish. A company can write to info@stratussc.com to have its reading checked against its filing.
Embed these figures on your site
A small card with the share of working time within reach now and at the end of 2027, 2028 and 2030, the date and a link back. Free under CC BY 4.0; the card carries the credit.